19441776 Club
A Spanish-manned French company breaks into Paris; the half-track Ebro opens fire at the Hôtel de Ville
Captain Raymond Dronne defies the plan to bypass the city and becomes the first French officer back inside its walls.
Paris had lived under German occupation for four years, and the Resistance had risen against the garrison since August 18, with open armed conflict erupting the next morning. On the evening of August 24, 1944, General Philippe Leclerc broke from the Allied plan to bypass the city and sent a vanguard of his 2nd Armoured Division ahead of schedule. The 9th Company, La Nueve, rolled through the Porte d'Italie under Captain Raymond Dronne and reached the Hôtel de Ville at 9:22 p.m., where the half-track Ebro opened fire on German fusiliers guarding the square. Word spread fast, and Parisians came out into the streets singing "La Marseillaise."…
